28. It is dangerous not to allow discontentments to evaporate of themselves; for as we see in a boil, if the matter is not let out, "the wound bleeds inwards and endangers malign ulcers and imposthumations," so if the discontents are not allowed to disappear of themselves, they cause an inward wound in the mind of the people which never heals. The people become disaffected inwardly and they treasure up their grievances till a fit opportunity for their bursting forth offers itself.

Malign ulcers are wounds of a pestilential nature which scarcely heals. Imposthumations are collections of bad and purulent matter in a bag or cyst. 29. This is scarcely true. If one country has an advantage over another country in one article of production, it is a loser in some other article. Thus France produces excellent wines, England is celebrated for her manufacture of hard ware. It does not follow therefore England profits over France by her hard ware, and France over England by her wines, but the two countries stand nearly on a par. The same is true of every other country.

30. The balance of trade was that system of trade by which no more was allowed to exported out of a country than was imported to it. This originated in a wrong opinion that if more was exported out of a country than was imported to it, it suffered a loss. The principle, therefore, of the balance of trade was to make the number of the articles of importation less than that of exportation, that more specie may flow into the country than was taken out of it.

It had not of course the tendency which Bacon ascribes to it; because there are some articles which are produced with great cost in one country than in another. It had rather the effect of making a country poor than rich.

31. (a) Superstition dismounts sense in-as-much as it supposes a idol of clay or metal to be endowed with god-like qualities, or a Grand Lama as the God incarnate.

(b) Superstition dismounts philosophy by teaching men to believe that it is not the shadow of the earth that occasions an eclipse of the moon but that it occurs by the agency of a demon.

(c) Superstition dismounts natural piety by inculcating the sacrifice of animals at the altars of the gods, or by approving infanticide.

(d) Superstition dismounts laws, superstition induces a man to take away the life of another who is not of the same persuasion with him, and to violate other laws if they any way oppose his tenets.

(e) Superstition dismounts reputation in-as-much it induces men to expose themselves in all kinds of indignity, to beg or wander in the streets half naked. In short superstition deprives a man of his senses, and makes him behave like a madman.

32. All superstitions originate from the people, and wise men in order to preserve their due position in such a society out of policy follow fools; and reasoning is generally conducted not in the usual manner, that is from facts to general propositions, but in a reversed order and contrary to experience. Thus the practise of the Suttee was approved because it was ordained by the religion of the Hindoos; and its bad effects were not taken into account.

Socrates was one of those wise men who followed fools by outwardly believing in the superstitions of his country.

33. If we do not take advantage of any opportunity when it offers itself, it does not return to us any more and so the end in view can hardly be afterwards accomplished.

The meaning is the same in the following sentence. The handle of the bottle corresponds to the locks in front; and the belly of the bottle to the bald noddle.

As the belly of a bottle or a bald noddle or head is hard to clasp, so when opportunity is lost we cannot retrieve it; and as the locks in front or the handle of a bottle is easy to clasp so opportunity embraced crowns us with the fulfilment of our motives.

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34. Except they mean their service" etc. i. e. unless princes mean that their service will prove advantageous to their servants or their servants may be benefitted by the service of the princes.

This mark of referring all by a prince's servant to himself was professed by Wolsey who had always “I and my King" in his mouth when addressed the parliament.

35. The first precedent is the first innovation. The imitation is the innovation which is made after the first precedent.

If the first precedence be bad, good will never issue out of, "for ill to man's nature is strongest in continuance."

36. It rests with well ordained societies to multiply virtues among its member, for there the force of custom is in his exaltation, "for society comforteth" etc.

We see that wherever there are well ordained societies there virtue multiply rapidly. The neglect with which governments are here charged is that of patronising learning and learned men. The ends least desired

are the advancement of favorites and unworthy persons.

37. It is not often seen that very beautiful persons are of great virtue as if nature was busy not to produce deformity, than in labor to produce both beauty and virtue.

38. Honor that is gained upon another shines the more.

Own bow-own profession.

39. Virgil and Milton speak of the great year of Plato.

40. (a) So in Twelfth Night.

"O, it struck my ear like the sweet south

Breathing on a bank of violets stealing and giving odor.
Also in Comus.

At last, a soft and solemn breathing sound

Rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes

And stole upon the air."

(b) So in Midsummer Nights Dream.

The poets eye in a fine phrenzy rolling

Doth glance from heaven to earth, and from earth to heaven etc.

(c) So in Henry IV.

And like a bright metal on a solemn ground

My reformation glittering over my faults etc.

(d) The good are better made by ill

For odors crushed are sweeter still

Rogers.

(e)
(f) This comparison is also in Campbell.

The myrth sweet bleeding in the bitter wound

Spenser.

RAM SUNKER SEN, Senior Scholar,

First Class, Third Year, Dacca College. i

KING JOHN.

Answer 1st.-The arguments of love here allude to the union of Blanch with Lewes.

This argument of love is called by the people of Angiers—

"The union of these two fair streams," &c.

Answer 2nd. The bastard hopes to advance through the aid of flattery; for says he, "It shall strew the footsteps of my rising."

Philip calls every one Time's illegitimate child, if he knows not, or, observes not the events that occur in his time. To express more plainly in his own words:

"He is but a bastard to the time, That doth not smack of observation;" For it is only by the "windy breath of flattery" that man can expect advancement, and he who is deficient in that, can hope little or no promotion.

The leading qualities that mark the character of the bastard are patriotism, courage, and fidelity. He has in him something of a courtier and much of a wit.

Answer 3rd.-Elinor speaks here of Philip and his son Lewes the dauphin. "Ambition" alludes here to the marriage of Lewes with Blanch; by which the dauphin expected a large dowry.

Elinor says to John, that, as the words of the citizens of Angiers have opperated in Philip, and made him forget his attachment towards Arthur, so, it was the best time for proposing the marriage of the dauphin and Blanch; or else, if John did not make use of this opportunity, the blood of Philip which, is excited by the words of the citizen will retain its usual warmth and recollecting his fidelity towards Arthur, will no more be swayed by any thing.

Answer 4th.-The barons of the time of John were a set of hardy men; who despised life when it was deprived of freedom.

Ere this time the kings were tyrants and the people forced to submit. Religon took the place of policy, and superstition reigned over all. The barons by course of time became day by day more formidable, till_they were able to dictate laws to the king himself. The war of the Roses with like examples will shew, that whenever the barons were in a state of rest Civil War was daily expected. The people feared the barons, but the barons did not fear the king; they forgot their own obedience towards the liege lord, while they extorted from their own vassals the submission due. The kings on the other hand, were more subjected to superstition than the barons. Their power was limited and now and then the regalia and the train of courtiers could have made a distinction between him and his chief barons. The kings were often through necessity unavoidable; forced, to carry on war with their unruly subject. In short the barons were the wiser, and the more powerful of the two. The kings the weaker, and more controlled by superstition than their subjects.

Answer 5th. She is well called the Niobe of the Gothic age. Her power of imagination, will, and love are indiscribable. But, above all, motherly love is the character most visible in her speeches, in her tears, and in her actions. She makes the fate of Arthur and her own identical; without him she is nothing and with her she is richer than the Croesus and much more happy than that monarch. Her anger is that of a

female, she threatens and tremble at the same time, she sees nothing but Arthur, she feels nothing but his loss, and she died only for him. Her ambition if I may call it so is only the height of motherly love. A fine picture here may drawn by a fine imagination, Constance is here represented as huge as Atlas, and nothing can bear her weight but the universe, and the state, or the royal chair with the canopy, on which she will sit,-is the Earth.

Answer 6th. We are not to think that this speech proceeds from John, for our fault will be detected by Historical facts; but we are to take it as proceeding from the mouth of Shakespeare, shewing the hatred of the Britons of the time of Elizabeth towards the Pope. The Kingdom being very lately out of the hands of the Pope, Shakespeare to heighten the contempt of the English for the Pontiff places such bombasts in the mouth of John. It well answered the purpose of Shakespeare for as we proceed downward from Henry the VIII. or at least Elizabeth we see the hatred of the people towards the Pope so strong that at one time they expelled their king for his attachment to the See of Rome.

Answer 6th.-Constance says that Her need proceeds from the unfaithfulness of the Kings. For if they be just and grant Arthur his right, which is redressing her grief, she will then be happy because they (the Kings) are faithful. Or their want of fidelity produces a want in Arthur, and which want is the cause of Constance's grief.

Answer 7th.-Constance says that her poverty proceeds from the following principle:

That is if Arthur's need be remedied-which is the death of need; the faithfulness of the Kings then will be visible, because their fidelity will make Arthur prosper.

Answer 8th.-Pandulph says: If we make a mistake in doing a good thing, we are to make a mistake on the same point so as to make the thing right. Although it is indirect, but their indirection goes correct; as fire having burnt a part will cure if again applied to it.

Thus to make it clear:

If we promise to do a bad thing, in that case our playing false, that is not doing it is much more laudable, than our fidility towards our oath. In Henry the Sixth, we have the same philosophy.

""Tis a great sin to swear unto a sin,

But greater sin to keep that sinful oath."

Answer 9th. This is the philosophy of the Rosicrutian.
Milton in his Comus brings these Demons.

Shakespeare introduce airy spirits in his Tempest, and "under fiends" we meet in Richard III.

Answer 10th.-Human nature is same every where, in every clime, in every body in every state. John has an intention so foul as he fears the very words would terrify him. When we are going to do a thing much against nature, we are pressed by some natural fear, and our mind misgives. The foulness of John's intent is the foulest in the foulest; and so the fear is greater, as the deed is more inhuman and less manly. The feelings of man is never so bold as to commit such an act as now planned, by John without shrinking with fear. History tells us that that assassins of Nadir Shah thrice went near the Sultan with the express wish of dispatching him, but thrice their courage failed them,

and such is the case with John, he cannot speak such a thing until he sees the readiness of Hubert to embrace it. And yet when he speaks he gives out only the word "death," and could not hold long talk.

Answer 11th.-The allusion is to the "invincible Armada," which the Spanish King sent against Elizabeth because she refused to marry him. "Whole armado" means the whole French army.

"Flood" means course of time.

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Roaring tempest" means disturbance. It might have a far allusion to the Pope's Excommunication."

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Answer 12th.-A like condition according to Shakespeare is necessary for sympathy. One cannot feel the pain of anothers fall until he had one. One cannot feel the grief of a mother for the loss of her child until he had experienced one like it.

In sympathy we change selves, We enter the body of the suferer to feel his sufferings.

In Romeo and Juliet we find a beautiful expression.

"He jests at scars that never felt a wound."

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Again in Much Ado About Nothing. Leonato says, Bring to me father that had such a loss" &c.

In Romeo and Juliet, we see Romeo breaking out into a passion : "Hang up philosophy if it cannot create a Juliet."

In another place.

"Philosophy never cured a tooth-ache."

Answer 13th.-In Lycidas Milton gives the shears of "destiny" into the hands of the Furies Which is wrong according to the Greek Fables. Shakespeare is true to the fiction.

Answer 14th.-John tells Pandulph,

Go and settle the disturbance that have arisen in the land, delay not for the danger is so great and so near that if you do not apply yourself soon, we might be thrown for ever like Lucifer

"Never to rise again."

John compares here the sores in the body to civil commotions as sores come out through the corruption of the blood, so civil war rises through the corruption of principles.

Chatillon calls them,

"Unsettled humours of the land"

"Counties" means counts

As in Romeo and Juliet.

"If rather than to marry county Paris Thou hadst the strength of will to slay thyself."

Answer 15th.—Shakespeare here shews the connection between inner and outer nature, God is so angry with murderers that even a small thread would be able to hang a man who has been guilty of it. The theory is the connection between inner and outer nature.

Answer 16th.-The Elinor of Shakespeare had a hand in the death of Arthur. When the time drew near when John was to speak to Hubert; Elinor took Arthur away from the place; which shews that it was planned before hand.

Answer 17th.-The Bastard says,

Shall a young boy, a child fond of silk defy us in our fields, and commit murder and havoc in a land of such warriors, and mocking the air with their flags spread in vain.